


A Serene Unravelling

by BlindRider



Category: Gravity Falls, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Chat Noir/Ladybug Fluff, Experimental miraculouses, F/M, Gabriel Agreste is not that much of a dick here, Ladybug au, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug Deserves Better, Marvel superheroes are just famous people, Older Dipper Pines and Mabel Pines, Salt Fic I Guess?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-16
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:22:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlindRider/pseuds/BlindRider
Summary: A Ladybug AU in which Marinette decides that she's got nothing to prove, she deserves better friends, preferably her crush that has now started to talk with her more, but then also finds them in the form of awkward American teenagers from her new international school.Does have swearing in many forms and degrees, so you have been warned :PI'll also be updating tags and character lists as the story goes.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Wendy Corduroy/Dipper Pines
Comments: 12
Kudos: 102





	A Serene Unravelling

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooooo! The name's as mentioned above xD kinda have to say that this is my first fic involving MLB and Marvel :P I've wrote a few Gravity Falls fic in FF but other than that this is quite some uncharted territory for me :D
> 
> This story is highly experimental at the moment, so chapters, if updated, will most definitely not come in a regulated interval. Not that I ever do stick with a schedule :| procrastination is a powerful drug fellas.
> 
> Anywho, thank you clicking on this story :D I appreciate every single views, and if you have the time or interest, leave some feedback so if I were to continue, I'd actually have a semblance of what I'd be attempting to do xD.
> 
> Enjoy!!

_At the top of the Arc de Triomphe, near the end of the battle._

It’s been quite a harrowing day for Ladybug. Getting expelled was a horrid experience in itself, not to mention the fact that almost no one tried to aid her in her defense, getting akumatized shortly after only to have the butterflies fly by themselves, then having to witness her own crime-fighting partner getting tricked by a literal copy of herself, albeit momentarily, and now she’s stuck in a predicament involving said partner, against their nemesis.

Ladybug knew exactly what Hawk Moth wants, and she knew that they both hold each other’s bargaining chip. Her having her hands on Mayura, while he has his hands on a quickly detransforming Chat Noir.

“Release him Hawk Moth!”

“Release her!”

Time was short, but she noticed something from Hawk Moth’s stare.

He’s not willing to lose her, as much as she does not want to lose Chat Noir. He knows that she’d bail on Mayura if he were to throw her kitty off of the structure.

She, however, knew that cats always land on their feet, especially this Cat. Yet, she does not want to take a chance.

So, she decided to play her cards tight.

As soon as she saw a hint of his action, she made sure to keep a subtle yet solid grip on Mayura’s miraculous, ensuring that Mayura herself doesn’t notice her plan.

Not even a second later, she saw Hawk Moth threw her partner off the structure, and not wanting to spare a second for him to react, she immediately pulled the brooch off of her chest, zooms pass Hawk Moth, and jumps out for her partner. She hears the short “No!” of realization from Mayura, and a harrowing growl from the man she just passed, but she knew that they now have no other choice but to run away, if they were to preserve Mayura’s identity.

Her prediction proved to be right, as soon as she made sure that she got a good grip on Chat Noir, she looked back to see that the two villains had jumped away, with a visibly detransforming Mayura being hidden closely by the bigger man.

She allowed herself a small smirk, before safely landing while making sure to not drop her partner to the ground.

“You okay Chat Noir?”

The hero in question gave her a surprised look “Ladybug, why’d you let her go!? You had her right where you wanted!”

“Well, you looked like you needed some help with decision making today.” She gave him a slight glare, with him wincing at her jab for getting fooled, and then placed him down, “Besides, I did so knowing that it will probably the last appearance that we’ll see of Mayura, hopefully for a long while.”

Chat Noir gave her an inquisitive look, before looking down at the object that she’s holding out to him.

“The peacock miraculous!”

She gave him a small genuine smile, the first one she let out for the day in acknowledgement of their victory, before looking at the fork she has in hand, and releases her bugs.

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

The swarm of ladybugs swept away all the damage and mishaps that the fight has created, all while noticing that Chat Noir had the same questions as she does regarding the sentimonster that was cruelly removed from existence by Mayura, wondering if her ladybugs would bring back the creature, only to see no sight of the creature, to both of their disappointment.

“Guess not even your ladybugs can bring the other Bugette back huh?”

“This miraculous has incredible power, and just like every other miraculous, it can be used for acts of extreme cruelty, even more so than the Butterfly one”

The two can only ponder on what drives such a man to such lengths, committing atrocities that can only be described as unimaginable acts against humanity.

A beep from both of their miraculouses reminded them of the restricted amount of time that the two had left, with Ladybug sighing in resignation, ready to end this already exhausting day, and it’s barely even the afternoon.

“I guess I should drop this off to Master Fu, see you around Chat Noir.”

“Ladybug, wait-“

Gripping her hand down, he stopped her from launching off. A look of confusion plastered on her face, while a look of regret was plastered on his.

“What?”

“I-I’m sorry, for getting tricked earlier, I should’ve known better than to get fooled so easily.”

He kept his stare to the ground in shame. It’s bad enough that he had let the actions of a deceitful girl tricked everyone into believing that Marinette had been a horrible person earlier, now, he’s probably disappointing the girl that he had loved so dearly, by getting deceived by the enemy that easily.

“Why did you fall for it, Chat?”

His head was in a whirl of confusion. He had expected her to be snappy, to be angry, anything that showed that she was upset at him. But even though the words that came out of her are usually spoken in a manner of anger, or at least anything remotely accusing, yet all that he got from the tone of her voice is nothing short of tiredness, and utter resignation. As if it wasn’t exactly directed at Chat Noir, but also to Adrien. Which quickly changed his regretful state, right into his worried state.

The moment he looked up, expecting her radiant blue eyes to be staring right back at his, he finds his worry deepening as not only did her stare looked like it had extinguished the light out of her eyes, but the worst part is that…

She wasn’t even looking at him.

Ladybug is all about being sincere, and he knows from all the time that they have spent together, her eyes are usually the powerful force that radiates that sincerity, they are what makes her statements all the more powerful, and one of the many reasons of why he had fallen so hard for the lady behind the mask. Even when she was telling him that her heart had belonged to someone else, she made sure that she looked him in the eyes when she said that does not want to play with his feelings, which just makes him believe how genuine she was being.

And now, to see such sad eyes on someone so strong… just doesn’t bode well with him.

With a frown, he tried to say something, anything, but all that came out was a series of choked and unintelligible word.

He stopped trying as soon as he heard her sigh.

“L-Look, I’m sorry Chat Noir.” she spoke out, tiredness still lacing every inch of her word, “It’s just been a long day for me… you don’t deserve to be snapped at.”

There it is. Here’s someone who looks like she had just gone through hell and back, had just been let down by someone who’d spent the better part of the year by her side, a girl who probably has a burden that no other in the world knows about other than him.

Yet, she still apologized for being rightfully upset at him.

“Do you want to talk abou-“

“Not now kitty, maybe not ever… not about this one at least.” she looked at him, a little bit of her sparkle returning to her eyes, but nowhere near its usual level, “Thanks for offering though, it’s nice to know that someone still cares.”

“I will always care milady…” he closed their gap and held her hand, hoping to deliver most of his sincerity through that touch. “Forget about me, the whole city of Paris cares as well, Bugaboo.”

His statement made her let out a dry, humorless chuckle.

“Wouldn’t that be nice…”

_What is going through her head? Why won’t she let me help?_

“Hey.”

He felt her hand on his cheek, urging him to look at her, the face that has been filling his every thought.

“I’m fine, kitty. Turn that frown upside down will you?” he looked at her and saw that she once again had that thin smile, but with her eyes still seemingly like it carried an unspeakable burden, “I’ve had too many of them to handle for the day, and I certainly can’t handle another one from one of my… well I guess in the light of what happened today… remaining best friend.”

_What does that mean? What happened today?_

But he decided to stop his inner monologue and utilized his civilian life’s skills to use. Propping a fake, modeled smile, and promptly giving a light kiss on her forehand.

“As you wish, milady.”

A smile crept up to her lips as she caressed his cheek one more time.

“See you around kitty.”

It was all she said before she yoyo’ed away, leaving a confused boy, with an even bigger heartache. He would’ve stayed glued to the spot had his miraculous not beeped again, reminding him of his limited time and need to get back home.

_At Master Fu’s residence…_

“The damage doesn’t seem too bad. It must’ve happened when I dropped it into that crevice, all those long years ago.”

Unbeknownst to him, Marinette had long lost her attention on him. As soon as she sat down to hand over the damaged miraculous, her thoughts began flying off to the events that had transpired earlier in the morning.

_Why hadn’t anyone believed her? Why didn’t anyone at the very least try to investigate further?_

_Why hadn’t anyone cared?_

She had saw every one of their faces, and most, if not all of them looking initially shocked when they saw that Lila’s “pendant” is in her locker, and then most of them turned to looks of disbelief and disgust, with only Adrien, and surprisingly Chloe having different reactions, not that she had time to dwell on it when it all unfolded.

Most painful of all, is to see said looks of disgust from the features of her own best friend.

Her mind immediately flew back to the conversation she had with Alya, right as she wanted to start planning to prove her innocence.

All before she scrapped it off…

_“And I, personally, know for a fact that you hated Lila just because she’s been hanging around Adrien from day one!”_

_“Wow, I’m so glad I called you. Thanks for the support.” sarcasm lacing every bit of her words._

_“I’m serious girl! You better stop this whole going against Lila thing you’re getting at here. It’s really starting to shed you in a horrible light!”_

_All assumptions of sarcasm immediately evaporated. Marinette couldn’t believe her ears, realizing that even her best friend is seriously doubting her._

_“But Alya, you know what she did! She even threatened me beforehand!”_

_She heard a scoff from her supposed best friend “Okay of course, she threatened you, then why didn’t you report her to the principal?”_

_“Do you think he would’ve believed me if I just straight up told him, you know Mr. Damocles, he wouldn’t have done anything about it!”_

_“Exactly. Not only because you wouldn’t have evidence, but Lila would never do such a thing! I’m telling you Marinette, if your solution to getting out of every school problem is to just blame it on Lila, all because you are jealous… then I seriously question my believe in you as a best friend.”_

_“B-But…” Marinette was almost at loss for words, realizing that Lila’s words are unravelling right before her, “I heard you and Nino didn’t get akumatized! And that was only possible if you thought that I couldn’t have been to blame for anything”_

_“Marinette please…” she saw the readhead shaking her head, seemingly in disapproval “Me and Nino knew not to continue thinking negatively, so we forced the thoughts away from us… that and we had too, just in case…”_

_She knew what she was referring to. Just in case Ladybug needed her and Nino to be Rena Rogue and Carapace._

_Words were no longer coming out of her mouth. Just sputters of someone who realized that things in her life are really turning for the worst._

_“Look Marinette, class is about to start I’ll- Yeah Lila! I’m coming- I don’t know what else to tell you… but this has been going on for far too long, so it might in best of both of our interest to keep away from each other, if not for the time being… then maybe forever.”_

_And just like that, the call ended._

_Along with years-worth of friendship._

_All gone, due to the conniving works of a devious liar._

_And yet, Marinette just couldn’t help but feel nothing._

She wasn’t even sure how long she had been phasing out of existence before Tikki brought her head back to the present.

“Marinette? Are you there?”

“YEAH! U-um, yeah Tikki, I’m here.”

Tikki knew that she had been thinking about what happened in her school, and she can only feel nothing but despair at the fact that she couldn’t do anything to prove her innocence, even though not a day goes by without the two of them always being together.

“Is something wrong Marinette?”

Once again, she had forgotten about the old master, promptly shoving her mind back at the topic in hand.

“N-Nothing is wrong master! It’s just…”

Fu raised his cup of tea, urging her to go on.

In her mind, she wanted to still believe, she wanted to hold hope that her friends can still be trusted. But then, having replayed the faces that stared back at her…

… she couldn’t find it within herself to really give any sort of care for them.

“I think we might have to retire Rena Rogue and Carapace.”

“Hmm… something happened? Did you find someone worthier to hold the miraculous?”

She winced at that thought “Uhh… not exactly.”

A few moments pass by, with her not having a clue to say in order to justify her reasons.

“I see.”

Fu’s words brought her eyes up, looking at the master who calmly sips his tea.

“You no longer trust them.”

Well of course leave it to the old man to put anything in a straight-forward manner.

But she couldn’t deny it due to the absolute truth that statement held.

Alya, the friend she had always counted on since the start of the school year, has utterly broken her trust as her best friend.

So, she decided to keep it specific for the master.

“Carapace might still have a chance, albeit relatively slim, but Rena Rouge…”

Once again, Fu observed her for a second or two, and spoke up again.

“She’s the one whom you’ve lost trust in the most… while the other one, you’re not so sure about?”

Marinette had then decided that she didn’t want to dwell on it any longer.

“Yes.”

“I see. Well it is unfortunate to see it happen, but it is what it is. Life will never be a continuous line of success, there are bound to be obstacles and hindrances right around every corner”

At this point, Marinette had numbed her emotions, she didn’t want to have any more thoughts on the subject, and she simply wanted to go home and try to make the best out of a crumbling future.

“I would understand if you would like to stay on the low from patrols as well… it is best for you to focus more on your current issues than to-“

His words snapped her back to attention, not wanting to give him the opportunity to finish his sentence.

“NO, no, no master! I don’t intend to let Ladybug’s duties slide. I wouldn’t do that,” she looked out through the window, taking in the bustling sounds of commute, and the bright blue sky encompassing the sky. “Not to Paris, and most of all, not to Chat Noir..”

Her thoughts briefly go to her cheerful partner, silently praying that he’s had a better day than her.

Soon after, she had arrived back her balcony, getting back in her room right before a knock on her trapdoor grabbed her attention, followed by the sound of her father.

“Marinette! There’s someone looking for you…”

Huh. Why would someone be looking for her?

“Coming papa!”

She waited for Tikki to hide in her pigtail before moving down the steps of the bakery.

Only to see none other than Chloe Bourgeois standing in the doorway to her bakery.

“Chloe? What are you doing here?”

The usually loud and obnoxious blonde didn’t look to be in the mood to talk however, as she simply waved for her butler to come forward.

“Mademoiselle Chloe would like for Mademoiselle Marinette to receive this item that she has acquired for your safekeeping.”

Holding a small object, Marinette had to look closer as to identify that the object is apparently a flash drive. A pretty big sized one as well.

“Umm… thanks but, I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do with it, or even what’s in it.”

This time, Chloe herself spoke up, still refusing eye contact for some reason. “The last favor I got out of Sabrina. Just watch the damn thing Marinette.”

Marinette was still about out of focus, especially due to the fact that she couldn’t hear the usual bitterness that she normally would hear with every word the girl had ever spoken to her.

“A-Al…right then, I’ll watch it right after” an awkward pause descended upon them, with only the butler occasionally looking back and forth between the two girls. Eventually, Marinette cleared her throat “Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? Maybe you’d want some bread?”

“Maybe next time Dupain-Cheng, I got some other things to do.” Chloe replied, turning towards her butler, “We’re done here Jean-Jacque, let’s not keep daddy waiting.”

“Certainly, Mademoiselle.” the butler then promptly bowed towards Marinette and made way to open the door for Chloe.

But right before Chloe steps in, Marinette called out, “Hey Chloe!” which halted the blonde.

“Thanks for this, I’ll be sure to give it a look!”

And to her surprise, Chloe simply replied with a small smile, got in her car, and drove off.

“Wow” Marinette really couldn’t hide her amusement. “I think this is the first time Chloe made it through an entire conversation without insulting anyone”

Her statement prompted Tikki to peek out “Considering that it’s Chloe, I guess it is quite the achievement for her, isn’t it?”

“Guess so…” she can only curiously watch as the vehicle makes its way around the corner, moving out of her sights and into the depths of the city, before looking back at the flash drive, “Now Tikki, let’s see what this thing has to offer for us.”

Not feeling the drive to walk back up her room, she decided to watch it on the TV down in the living room, plugging it straight in and choosing the flash media to watch from one. She immediately realized that the flash drive had contained security footage, more specifically, security footage of her school’s vicinity the day before, and also the morning of the current day.

“Wow, I wonder how she managed to get a hold of this.”

Her mind flew back to the short words that Chloe had said earlier.

_The last favor I got out of Sabrina._

“Of course, Tikki!” she looked at the kwami, who had sat on her lap, “Sabrina’s father is a policeman! Chloe must’ve asked her to get her father to retrieve the school’s security footage.”

“And it must’ve cost her something that affected her connection with Sabrina…” Tikki added, which Marinette gave a careful thought to, and nodded rather somberly to the thought of that.

The thought that Chloe was willing to sacrifice something for someone, especially that someone being herself.

Tikki seemed to have read her mind, “Maybe Chloe _is_ trying to change, maybe being Queen Bee really did help her see the world in a bigger picture.”

“I can only hope so Tikki…” she really had that thought creeping up to her, maybe it was the right move to let her get a go at being Queen Bee. “But you know that I’m still on edge to pretty much anyone after what happened today. Chloe’s a surprising change but I’m still upset over how everyone treated the situation.”

“What about Adrien?”

She smiled at her kwami’s question, who shared the same reaction at the only somewhat positive notion of the entire morning.

“He tried Tikki, he really did. But he didn’t even get four words out before that _birdbrain_ of a principal stopped him” she paused to give more thought to the blonde boy she had fallen in love with “But it’s probably a good thing that he didn’t get to continue, who knows what his father would’ve done to him had news gone out that he went head-to-head with the principal like that. Gabriel would probably lock him in his room and never let him leave his house, which would’ve meant another victim from Lila’s lies.”

Tikki can only smile sadly towards her Ladybug. Always thinking about the wellbeing of others, even if it meant sacrificing her own.

“Anyways…” Marinette sighed and pulled her attention to the screen, “It’s time to see if this footage proves what we have known all along.”

The two watched in anticipation as she pressed play, showing a footage of Marinette at her locker, with Lila keeping herself out of vision just at the end of the lockers, holding her cellphone on one hand, with what looks to be a paper in her other. All while having a seemingly wicked grin on her face. Letting the clip play on, Lila looked like she pressed something on her phone, which promptly caused Marinette’s to ring out, causing her to walk out of the locker room to take it, all while leaving her locker door wide open.

Marinette winced at her own actions. She had to admit, she made it kind of easy for herself to get trapped. But she promptly shook her head, clearing any self-loathing thoughts and continued her focus towards the screen.

Lila then walked over to he opened locker and placed the paper in her bag, which she now recognized as the answers to that mock exam that Ms. Bustier had given to the class, before turning tail and running out before Marinette came back in and simply took her bag and closed her locker behind.

Surprisingly, Marinette only snorted at Lila’s actions, “Cheap move…”

The clip then seemingly cut itself forward, signifying to Marinette that Chloe must’ve edited the clips to only view the parts that actually mattered.

Another confusing point of Chloe being unusually considerate, but she didn’t really have to time dwell on it since the clip moved on to the next segment.

Which showed Marinette and Alya talking at the locker room, before Marinette shut her locker, and leaving the room with Alya.

 _Nothing strange there_. She had thought.

And she proved herself to have thought too quickly, Lila went in the locker room, giving wary glances to her surroundings, before bounding over to Marinette’s locker and seemingly slipped something into her locker via the small air vents that each locker has.

Which enlightened her as to how Lila managed to get her “grandma’s pendant” into her locker in the first place.

Once again, Marinette could only scoff at her actions. Grateful that said actions could easily be overturned by simply watching the security tapes. Yet, it simply made her question how no one else even thought of, or even suggested to watch the security footages. As if everyone had conveniently forgotten that there are cameras around the college.

Especially, as the last segment of the clip started playing, which showed as clear as day that all Marinette was stand there as Lila conveniently placed herself at the bottom of the stairs and began acting like someone had crushed her ankle.

That clip had upset her the most, as it was at that point where everyone had fully turned their selves against her.

But with all the lies that they had tricked their selves into believing, she could only guess that she probably should’ve expected as such from her group of so called “friends”

What she didn’t expect however, was to hear a loud gasp and a terrifying growl from right behind her.

Tikki immediately dove for her purse, while Marinette turned around to see a horrified Sabine, and an absolutely angry looking Tom, muttering as he looked at the screen with disgust.

“Unbelievable.”

Marinette didn’t exactly remember how it came to be, but just in a span of under a minute, she’s struggling to keep one enraged Tom Dupain from leaving his bakery on a mission of destruction.

“Papa! I swear it’s okay!”

“NO! NONE OF THAT WAS OKAY! I will go down there myself and turn that Lila’s _HEAD_ into a quiche!”

As entertaining as she thought it would be to see that unravel, she’d preferred having no one’s blood being splattered around for her sake. That and even though she is Ladybug, it’s getting incredibly hard to keep her father’s bulging body at bay for any longer, as he is much taller, and stronger than her civilian form is.

“Mama! Help me out here, I’m cramping up.”

Sabine nodded and immediately placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, who turned to her, and calmed down almost right away at the sight of her pleading face.

Marinette sighed in relief, her cramping muscles loosening straight away as Tom no longer tried to push past her.

“But Marinette, I don’t get it? Don’t you want prove to your school that you’re innocent?”

“Yes papa, I want to, but I’m also considering if I even _want_ to go back there…” she replied, up to the point of exasperation. She saw the questioning looks that her parents gave each, before continuing, “I’m not sure if I’m willing to go back there… back to a place where opinions can be changed by something as dubious as a boneless lie, where obvious problems such as earlier can so easily be one-sided, where years of trust and friendship can easily be thrown away for hopes of an empty promise.”

Tom and Sabine could only watch as their daughter was obviously still stinging from the betrayal of people that she had genuinely called friends, but at the same time, she looks surprisingly accepting of what had happened.

“I’ll go back there to clear up my expulsion, but after that, I’m not looking back.” she smiled softly, yet with a tint of sadness lacing her lips “I’m done pretending that their negligence is something that I’m okay with, and something that I will deal with every day.”

As soon as she finished her words, Tom and Sabine went forward and gave their daughter the hug that she had really deserved. Both not quite believing that the ones that they had thought of as her friends, had actually been hurting her all these times.

The hug lasted for a while, before Sabine starts speaking up “Marinette, we’re sorry that we had doubted you earlier… we should’ve known for sure that you’re nowhere near the kind of person to be doing all those atrocious actions, but we still have to think about a new school for you.”

A lightbulb went off in Marinette’s brain, suddenly remembering a certain offer from a certain fashion school that she had received just a few months prior.

“Actually, about that…”

In the Agreste household however, things are not going exactly as according to her prayers.

Gabriel Agreste always had high standards when it comes to trying to accomplish anything.

And when he means anything, he means _absolutely everything_.

So, to wake up and see his strongest ally go against his words, and then failing, and losing horribly in the process, he would’ve expected himself to be absolutely enraged at this point in time, only to find himself feeling somewhat… void of any emotions in general.

“Nathalie, not only did you disobeyed me… you have cost us a great deal of effort by losing one of our main weapons against Ladybug and Chat Noir.”

The woman in question looked nowhere near in healthy shape, continuously coughing her lungs out. Gabriel felt the anger within him seep away with every hacking attempt she made in controlling her throat, eventually subsiding to almost nothing as she got to a stable enough point to speak up.

“I thought- _cough_ – I could give you a head start… Almost had it had- _cough_ – Ladybug didn’t arrive in that timeframe.”

Gabriel can only sigh forlornly, not to her situation in particular, but the haunting memory of the last few weeks of his wife’s consciousness.

It was then he decided that this endeavor is his alone to deal with. No other soul should be affected by his target, and especially not Nathalie’s.

“In any case, we wouldn’t have been able to fully utilize the peacock miraculous in its current state” he paused for a while, letting his gaze fall towards a nearby portrait of him and his wife, “Not without suffering consequences that I am willing to go through again.”

Nathalie was ready to refute, but what came was only a series of continuing coughs, prompting Gabriel to kneel down to get to her eye level. He simply couldn’t let another person go through what his wife had forced herself to do, and all just for the sake of achieving a goal that he beforehand had no clue where it would have led. And now, having experience one massive wave of consequence with his wife, who fell into an eternal slumber, his son who he had distanced quite considerably to the point where he wouldn’t even look him in the eyes during the all, if any, interactions that they had in the previous years, and now, he’s on the pathway of invoking another consequence, by damaging the one person who had stood loyally by his side.

And he simply couldn’t let that happen.

“Nathalie, you are free from your task for the next few days. I implore you to rest and to get your health back in working condition. I will relay Adrien’s schedule to his bodyguard myself.”

“Sir-“

“That is an order Nathalie, and you have disobeyed me for the last time today. As for Hawk Moth, he will remain active, but I will be focusing on exploring more varieties of the powers that an akuma can conceptualize.”

Seeing as she had no other way around him, she decided to relent and let him assist her out of the room, and into his office.

All without noticing the black blur that had slipped its away to the window above, and the bright green flash that ends up enveloping the room for a brief moment.

While Plagg went straight for the camembert, Adrien threw his frustrated self onto his bed, confident that it had at the very least, alerted Nathalie to his presence, since it is supposedly lunch time.

But his head was nowhere near the thought of food.

Everytime he would think of Ladybug, it’ll usually fill his heart with joy and all-around happiness. Yet today, he couldn’t help but feel distraught over the last few moments of their previous battle.

“Plagg, I really worry for her…”

The kwami flew over, but Adrien noticed that his expressions are less sympathetic, but more to irritated, “You always do kid. But she’s a tough cookie, she can handle herself.” Adrien was ready to butt in over his kwami’s seemingly lack of sympathy for his partner, before the kwami continued, “Because what you have to focus on right now, is the problem that’s happening in your civilian life.”

Adrien’s brows furrowed for a split second, before his brain jumped back to the events that transpired earlier in the morning.

“OH NO! Marinette! I’ve completely forgot!”

If he could facepalm so hard his hand goes through his skull, he probably would’ve.

“Damn it Plagg… what should I do?” running his hand through his hair, threatening to rip it off its roots. “She’s obviously innocent, and had I never hesitated and told her to take the high road, she probably would’ve been nowhere near this mess! This is all my fault… I’m a terrible friend. She probably wishes she never had met me at this point.”

“Well kid, you at least tried to speak up-”

“Barely! I only gotten four words out before that utter _shitbrain_ of a principal told me to shut it. Seriously why can’t anyone else just think about it for once? It doesn’t have to always be Marinette doing the thinking for them!”

Plagg was somewhat intrigued. Normally, Adrien’s _colorful_ vocabulary starts showing up when something bad happens to anything that he’s excited, or passionate about. In its more usual cases, that anything would usually be anything Ladybug related. But to see him getting frustrated like this for the pigtailed girl, made him held hope that maybe this Chat Noir, albeit the best that he has had in thousands of years of being their kwamis, isn’t as dense as he had initially thought, and could finally put two and two together.

Adrien curled his fist in frustration, he was really ready to duke it out with Mr. Damocles right then and there. Anything he could’ve done, he would’ve, if it had meant that he’d be able to help Marinette defend herself. After his stupid decision of asking her to take the high road.

He would do all that as long as it meant that he can prove Marinette’s innocence, which he shouldn’t even have to be doing in the first place, had everyone used their fucking brains once in a while.

He was almost out of thought, when his phone rang out. He picked it up to look at the lock screen and was surprised to see Alya’s contact flashing out, requesting for a video call.

“Plagg, of course! Alya’s a reporter, and she’s Marinette’s best friend, so she should know something, or at least a way to prove her guilty!”

Without Adrien noticing, Plagg couldn’t help but wince. Knowing how Ladybug acted earlier, things mustn’t have been going well for her, due to whatever happened from in between her expulsion, and the akuma battle. He could only watch the blonde boy pick up the phone enthusiastically, hoping that his premonition is nothing but a bad feeling.

Turning the video on, Adrien waste no time getting to talk.

“Hey Alya, look I really want to talk about-“

“DUDE! Where you at? I thought were having lunch out together today?”

Only to find himself get cut off by none other than Nino Lahiffe.

Oh, and he just remembered that he was heading to the rendezvous point where they agreed to meet up for lunch before the akuma attack occurred. That was also when he gets confirmation, not that he needed one, that Lila had a bit of foul play in regard of Marinette’s expulsion.

Not that he really felt like meeting up with anyone after what had occurred.

“Hey Nino… umm… where’s Alya? I thought it was her ID that showed up instead of yours?”

“She’s right here dude,” Nino swerved the camera around to show the redhead, who’s seemingly talking to…

… Lila!?

Adrien had to blink multiple times to make sure that he wasn’t envisioning that. After making sure that he wasn’t hallucinating, he was about to make a remark on what he’s seeing before the two girls apparently noticed the video call, and lo and behold, Lila spoke up.

“Adrieeeen! Where are you? I was so worried when we couldn’t contact you when-“

“Yeah Lila I’m fine, thanks for worrying about me,”

_Not._

“But hey Alya, do you mind if I just speak to Nino for a bit?”

He found himself utterly perplexed as Ayla just continued chatting with Lila, almost as if he wasn’t even there asking a question. The camera then swerved again, putting Nino’s semi-apologetic face into view.

“They’ve been talking all throughout lunch dude.” he watched on with his brain still processing the view that he had saw, before Nino looked like he settled somewhere a bit further than where he was, “So, what boy business you gotta talk about without the girls?”

If Adrien were to be honest, he hadn’t really felt his rage within his head, but the tone of his following voice certainly indicated that he had been seething deep down.

“Nino, what the fuck is _Lila_ doing there?”

“Wait, what do you-“

“You heard me. What. The. _Fuck_. Is Lila, doing there?”

“We were having lunch-“

“That’s not the point of my question” Adrien pinched the bridge of his nose in confusion, and second of all, in disbelief, “What is she doing there with the two you? You guys knew exactly what Lila did this morning!”

Nino had his face scrunching, as if he had to really to think about what events had occurred in the earlier time of the day.

Which was slowly sending Adrien’s rage into uncharted territory.

“Oh!” he finally saw that Nino’s looked like it was working, before realizing that it really hadn’t “You mean Marinette getting expelled? Bro, Lila had nothing to do with it! At least… that’s what Alya told me”

“Really? And where in the world did Ayla got her information from?”

“…”

“Nino?”

“Umm…”

“Please… don’t tell me she got her information from Lila?”

“… yeah”

Adrien couldn’t even say anything, but he simply groaned in disbelief while covering his face.

“And you believed _her_ words?”

“Alya seems to think that it’s much more trustworthy than Marinette’s”

“Excuse me!? Since when did _anything_ Lila say or do are even remotely as trustworthy as Marinette’s words?”

He can see the doubt creeping in Nino’s face, but for whatever reason, the boy just seemed to have steeled himself on this misguided pathway of understanding, “You saw what happened dude. Miss Bustier caught the exam answers still in Marinette’s bag, then Lila got hurt because Marinette pushed her down the stairs, and then we ended up finding Lila’s pendant in her locker! There’s just too much evidence against her”

In all honesty, Adrien had hoped Alya and Nino to have been part of the group that still thought about everything before they made conclusions, but he should’ve known with how his day had been going that it was probably too much to ask of them.

So, he decided to try and make his brain work it out.

“Then why didn’t Marinette hesitate when she opened her bag? Had she known that she had damning evidence against her in it, why didn’t she at least try to make an excuse to not do so?” he waited to have that thought slot into his friend’s train of thoughts, before continuing, “And you know Marinette, she’s not a good liar, nor is she good in making excuses.”

After a bit of silence, Nino replied, “Doesn’t justify her pushing Lila down the stairs though…”

“Out of all the improbable things she was accused of, that is by far the most ridiculous one” he had missed Nino’s look of uncertainty after he finished his own words, “First off, no one even saw that it had actually happened. Second, if Marinette did push her down the stairs, why didn’t we hear any screams? Why didn’t we hear any sound of anyone or even anything tumbling? We heard nothing other than a faked shout of anguish, and all we saw was Lila already on the bottom of the staircase. And most of all, Marinette didn’t even attempt to run! If anyone does anything malicious, I would say their first instinct was to run”

Now looking extremely doubtful, Nino could only mutter out his last argument, with his voice full of uncertainty, and absolute lack of belief.

“Still doesn’t explain the pendant…”

“That’s where it all gets too convenient in her side, Nino” Adrien made sure that he has Nino’s brain, right where he wants it to be, “Same questions, why did Marinette willingly let everyone see the one evidence that nails her in the coffin? And how is it that everything that Lila said just turns out to be the convenient truth? Does anyone even know that whatever pendant it was really her grandma’s? And most of all Nino…”

At this point, Nino really had no other point to argue.

“Do you really think that Marinette, the girl I called our everyday Ladybug, is capable of even _having_ the thought of doing all those terrible acts?”

“… I don’t even know anymore dude… do _you_ think she’s capable of those things?”

Adrien couldn’t believe that his apparent best friend really needs more reassurance after all his counter points, almost making him reconsider on whether or not it is worth it to even try to continue convincing him.

But Adrien wasn’t about to stop there.

“Nino, I can tell you that Marinette is probably the most amazing, talented, wonderful, and extraordinary person I know, and is probably capable of achieving anything that she puts her brilliant brain into.” He watched as Nino’s expression slowly morphed into one of regret, hinting to him that he might’ve just realized the errors in his thinking, “But to even try and associate her into acts such as stealing, lying, or even thinking of her doing anything remotely malicious for her own gain, just doesn’t seem to fit any narrative that you can suggest to me,” he had felt his tone rising as he continued on and on with his sentence, “and I’ve only had the pleasure of knowing her for almost three years. You’ve known her practically all your life…”

Adrien didn’t want to be harsh, but his heart had a different way of voicing his opinions, and he had unknowingly said his last few words with a tone that some might have never thought that the blonde boy is capable off.

“FIGURE IT OUT.”

He caught a brief glance of the other boy flinching, while missing such reaction from an obviously surprised Plagg, before ending the call and slamming his phone down to his desk.

Which almost backfired because as soon as the door to his rarely released anger was opening up, so did the door to his room, revealing one unusually panicked-looking Gabriel Agreste.

“Who’s there? How dare you enter- Wait, Adrien? Why are you here? This is school hours”

Not having much time to formulate a response, he could only try to make his voice sound as convincing as possible, “Umm… I wanted to have lunch here? Didn’t really feel like sticking around in school”

_Good reasoning, you dumbass._

Surprisingly, Gabriel didn’t look too perturbed by his reasoning “Hmm, very well then. You have a short photoshoot scheduled by the Seine. Make sure you return to class on time, I do not want to hear any reports of insubordination from your teachers.” And he promptly left right after finishing his sentence. Leaving a bewildered Adrien and a reemerging Plagg looking perplexed at the door that the usually much colder man had just left.

“Plagg, what’s happening today? It’s like everything became upside down, even father is acting weird… in his own little standards that is.”

“I’ve learned to never question a weird day kid… Now, are we heading out to pigtail’s place? You can steal of few of her cheese puffs, they’re to die for!”

“I can’t just go there Plagg, she’s probably still upset about this whole thing.” He didn’t even realize that he had opened his phone again, scrolled through his contacts, and had his finger hovering over Marinette’s contact, “Besides, her parents would probably kick me out of the front door in a zap.”

Hearing the word “front door”, Plagg’s cunning brain went into work.

“Who says anything about a front door?”

Adrien looked at his kwami, and immediately recognized his trademark “We don’t have to go as Adrien Agreste” look, to which only prompted a sigh out of the desperate blonde.

“Fine, but we’re doing it after all the school activities. I want to make sure that she’s calmed down before we go and ask her about it.”

“Deal.”

And, Adrien would later take his chance on delivering a piece of his mind when he found out that a he has a particular partner for his “short photoshoot.”

Meanwhile, the person they were planning on visiting, is surprisingly enjoying a calm and serene afternoon.

Even Marinette herself couldn’t exactly pinpoint why.

Is it because she finally found the answer to proving her innocence while also exposing Lila out of her lies?

Nope… well yeah, she was glad that Chloe was able to give her those security footages, but she’s not exactly jumping for joy at that fact, especially now that she had made up her mind about that school.

Is it because she and Chat Noir was able to retrieve one of the miraculous from the hands of their enemy, no longer allowing them to abuse that power anymore?

Sure, that was a big win, but she hadn’t exactly felt totally calm from that ordeal, due to the fact there’s still one more miraculous to retrieve, and it’s the one that’s actually been troubling the city for the last few years.

Or is it because she just ensured that the ESMOD conditional offer that she had received a few months back is still open to be reconsidered after she indirectly told them that she wanted to continue on to high school before a certain brunette had to go and ruined that whole idea for her?

Yeah, it was probably that one.

“Marinette, are you sure you’re okay? You don’t seem too happy after all that talk you had with your parents…”

She kept her eyes locked into the email that just confirmed the availability of the offer, and promptly sighed in relief. “Yeah Tikki, I’m fine now…”

Even though she had said it out loud, her mind kept asking her question.

Am I really fine?

“What’s the email about Marinette?”

“A way out Tikki…” she tore her eyes from the monitor, putting her hands together for Tikki to sit on, “You could even say that it’s a solution… a nice way of starting fresh without actually quitting on anything that I’ve been working towards these past few years.”

“But what about your friends?” Tikki didn’t exactly want to imply anything, she knows the amount of trust Marinette has on her so-called “friends” had gradually disappeared over the past few weeks, but she didn’t want Marinette to be vindictive towards them, “Haven’t you been working hard to be a good friend to them?”

“And I will always try to be so, Tikki…” Marinette brought the kwami closer “I’ve known a lot of them for so long it’s going to be hard to keep distance from them forever. But then again, betrayal still hurts like a bitch and I’m done trying to snap their minds into place, if that time ever comes where they finally realize Lila’s deceitful plot, then good for them, but I won’t be the one to deliver it to them. And I sure as hell won’t be welcoming them back with open arms should they try to. That option will also be a lot harder for a specific set of people.”

Tikki winced, knowing that Marinette was referring to Alya. She knew that even though they were best friends, the redhead’s accusation had been much more hurtful for Marinette to take, rather than everyone else’s silent judgements. But then again, Tikki herself had to really question on whether or not it was actually worth it to continue fighting for people who are just too blind to see the blatant truth, and fortunately for her, Marinette had already answered it for her.

And the answer is a big, fat, _no_.

Both had their eyes stuck on the email for so long, slowly accepting the dawning realization that they would no longer be going to the school that they had been so used to.

Suddenly she heard a message tone coming from her phone.

She had expected to be Alya or really anyone else, only to find herself surprised by the notification bubble.

_[Adrien]: Hey Mari you okay?_

Well that was unexpected.

Certainly not unwelcomed though.

What surprised her the most is the fact that, even with her smiling almost giddily towards the text itself, she didn’t fumble a single bit when she unlocked her phone and sent back a reply.

_[Marinette]: Hi Adrien_

_[Marinette]: Been better I guess :/_

_[Adrien]: Anything I can do to help?_

She smiled at the thought, briefly tempted to actually think of something to make her feel better. But she eventually came short with a sigh and typed back.

_[Marinette]: Not atm unfortunately… I’ve got something going on and I’m just trying to focus on that_

A pause in the chat then occurred, Marinette simply thought that he just wanted to do a quick check up on her. She knows that he currently has a photoshoot (courtesy of his schedule that she kept in a smaller size now) and probably doesn’t have much time to talk.

That was all she thought, until her phone beeped again. She looked down at the screen to find his reply.

_[Adrien]: I’m sorry…_

_[Adrien]: This is whole mess is practically my fault_

Woah.

Where did that come from?

_[Adrien]: I should’ve never told you to take the high road. Now you’re suffering the consequences of my actions._

Reading his text, she knew exactly what he meant, and admittedly, a small part of her emotions _was_ blaming him for telling her to go to through that path. But then realization came into play as she just remembered that he didn’t exactly knew about the harmful deeds that Lila had played on her.

So, it was natural for him to think that the high road would’ve been okay because he saw nothing harmful happening to her, nor had she told him about it.

Plus, in all consideration, it had cost him a lot more than she did beforehand because Lila had genuinely thought that Adrien really liked being friend with her. Of course, that meant that the liar would stick to Adrien like a glue.

_[Marinette]: Hey it’s okay! Admittedly I was sort of upset about that part for a little bit. But then I realize that it was partly because I wasn’t fully honest about the situation with you either._

_[Marinette]: Besides, it looked like you had to endure some form of consequences from taking the high road as well, maybe a bit more so than I did, right mister?_

She could just feel him wincing from wherever he is at the moment.

_[Adrien]: That obvious huh?_

_[Marinette]: I can see it from the back of the class, so yeah, it was pretty obvious :P_

_[Adrien]: -_-_

_[Marinette]: I’m just surprised that no one else had noticed. But given all that they have missed, I can’t exactly say that I had high hopes for them to even see it._

_[Adrien]: Lila had even convinced Alya that we are now “ultra-besties”. Whatever that even means. Pretty sure she’s gonna convince her that we’re dating._

_[Adrien]: For a reporter, Alya really needs to sharpen her skills in reading body language. It’s gotten duller than the dinners that I’d have with my father._

She didn’t know whether to wince or chuckle at his complaints, not exactly knowing what response would cheer him up from that. Even Tikki looked uncertain about what to reply to that sentence of his.

Fortunately for her, they didn’t have to.

_[Adrien]: He even scheduled a photoshoot for me and Lila for lunch and afterschool! Sometimes I think that he’s deliberately trying to torture me._

_[Adrien]: I should’ve just stayed at the back with you. You’re a far better company than anyone I know. Screw Ms. Bustier, I’m just gonna sit wherever you are when you come back._

_[Adrien]: If that’s cool with you, that is…_

Unbeknownst to Adrien, Marinette’s brain had somewhat short circuited just a few moments ago. Ecstatic about his words, yet also slightly regretful over her decision, now that she recognized what the implications of her transfer would lead to.

_[Marinette]: Actually, about that…_

Her typing was then interrupted by a sudden knocking on her trapdoor, followed by her father’s voice.

“Yes papa?”

The trapdoor opened, and Tom’s head peeked in, with a visibly confused expression too.

“Did you talk to the school already?”

Marinette joined her father in their state of confusion. “Umm… no? I’ve only been looking at the foundation offer that the fashion school I mentioned had sent me. Why? Did something happen?”

Tom held their home phone up “The school just called, and the Mr. Damocles just said that there has been a… _development_ , and your expulsion might just be reversed.”

“Huh…” Marinette wanted to immediately think that someone has suddenly grown a brain, but she suspected that something fishy is going on. “That’s strange. But I guess we can see what just came up, and I’ll bring the footage just in case we still need it.”

With a nod of assurance, Tom went down to fetch Sabine.

As his head disappeared and the trapdoor closes, Tikki went flying out, features bearing the same emotion that her Ladybug and her father had adorned.

“Do you think it’s another trap?”

Marinette eyed the school’s general direction in suspicion, not wanting to give the situation the benefit of a doubt.

“I don’t even know Tikki. But whatever it is, we should have enough evidence to refute anything they throw at us.”

Remembering her chat with Adrien, she shot him a quick text.

_[Marinette]: Hold up, got a small update._

_[Marinette]: The school’s calling me back to talk about the suspension. I’m gonna go and see what it’s all about._

And with that, she waited for Tikki to hop in her purse, and promptly headed downstairs.

Not even twenty minutes later, they were already sitting in Mr. Damocles’s office, Ms. Bustier listening behind, and in the other seat is none other than Lila Rossi herself.

Okay, to her defense, she was more than likely to not ever have anticipated… _whatever_ it is that’s unfolding right in front of her.

Here she is with her parents, listening to Lila claiming that she had made _everything_ up, and it is all due to a disease that causes her to not be able to control whatever it is that she’s saying.

Oh, plus, Mr. Damocles had been brought to tears due to her sob story.

Marinette could only roll her eyes at both her principal (soon to be ex-principal)’s reaction, and Lila’s absolutely stupid sob story, all while missing the incredulous stare that Miss Bustier was giving her.

Her parents looked at each other with quirked eyebrows, with their prior knowledge to what this Lila girl had actually done, and the fact that their daughter had the most exasperated expression that they had ever seen her in, they knew that the brunette girl is spouting absolute horseshit.

“And because of this rare disease, sometimes I can’t control things I say. I’m really sorry Marinette.”

Marinette couldn’t be any more relieved that she had finally stopped talking. If she had to deal with another minute of all that crap, she’d have to actually fetch a stable boy to shove it all at Lila’s face.

What Mr. Damocles had to say next though, caught her attention.

“Thank you for your confession, Lila. It's very moving. Marinette, you will of course be allowed back in the school tomorrow.”

“Actually… about that, Mister Damocles.”

Her reply caught made the still sniffling principal to look at her, “Is there a problem Marinette?”

Marinette took a glance at Ms. Bustier “Can I have a little bit of time with Miss Bustier please? There’s something I would like to discuss.”

Tom and Sabine took that as the signal to start preparing her withdrawal papers.

Ms. Bustier however, looks keen on talking about something else “Good timing, I would also like to have a word with Marinette.”

Mr. Damocles looked at the two of them and merely shrugged, “Very well then. Lila, you can go back to class. Mister Dupain and Misses Cheng, I will escort you out”

A quick nod of reassurance from her got her parents to agree and went on their way out of the office, but also making sure that Lila had stepped out before they did as to see whether or not the brunette would dare to even do anything to their daughter, which Lila seemed to have noticed and she stiffly went out of the office without further persuasion.

As soon as the door shut, Marinette exhaled a breath that she didn’t know she’d been holding.

“So, Miss Bustier, I actually would like to talk about-“

“I expected you to be better Marinette.”

Wait, what?

Marinette gawked at her teacher, observing her features for any sort of signs that she meant something else. But all she found from her face was the same emotions that she had felt from her words.

Accusations and disappointment.

She looked at her teacher incredulously, now knowing that she hadn’t misheard her words.

“Excuse me!?”

Ms. Bustier looked almost disappointed, due to what, she’s about to find out, “I know that you are off the hook for your suspension… but that doesn’t mean that you can just be inconsiderate towards your accuser’s illness! I saw how you were reacting to her story, and I honestly never took you as someone capable of being spiteful, Marinette.”

“Spiteful? Me? _Spiteful_!?” Marinette pointed to the door, “How is it that _I’m_ the one being spiteful, when that girl had literally tried to get me kicked out of the school when I refused to be tricked by her manipulative lies! The fact that she tried to isolate me from my own friends with empty promises!”

“Those were not empty promises, she had been overworked! She was always said that her work with Prince Ali-“

“Oh, don’t even get me started with that!” she couldn’t believe that her own teacher had also been gulping down every lie that trickster had told, “What else are you going to bring up? Her tinnitus? That she got from saving Jagged Stone’s _freaking_ cat!? That he has never had!? And you know very well that I should know about this, because I just got off another commission request that he had personally given to me _just_ last week.”

Caline Bustier didn’t seem like backing down any time soon though, “That still doesn’t give you the right to flaunt your connections like that! You were elected class representative because of your abilities to cater for everyone! I don’t know what happened between then and now, but like I said, you have turned spiteful. And I’m coining it that because you only have issues when it comes to Lila! Do you spite her _that_ much?”

Marinette is increasingly feeling like her frustrations have peeked.

“FINE! Call it spiteful all you want!” she got closer to Caline, wanting to emphasize her next points, “But at least I’m nowhere near her level of spite, where she has to threaten me just to try and make sure that I stay in line with all her lies.”

She had finally dropped her last card.

The card that neither her parents, nor Adrien had known about.

“…Threaten?”

“Yeah” Marinette felt her voice began feeling watery, “She threatened me. She said that if I don’t follow her line, then I will slowly be isolated from my friends. All those who cared for me will hate me, and I will eventually have no one to go and talk to, I will be absolutely alone.”

Caline had suddenly became very silent.

“And you know what? She’s wrong. Because it wasn’t me who ended up losing any of my friends” she felt tears pricking her eyes, but she held it back, resolving to not crumble, “My friends have ended up losing me… safe for a few specific people.”

Marinette thought that she had convinced her teacher, but once again, she had hoped for too much. Though she can now hear doubt and a tint of regret mixing in her tone.

“But you heard what she said Marinette… she can’t control what she’s saying. Maybe that was the disease talking.”

If there was a time when Marinette felt like gauging her eyes out, this would be one of those specific times.

Eventually, she decided that maybe even the adults of the school are just within the same hopeless frame of mind, as the students in her class are.

“You know what, I was going to spare this from anyone’s knowledge except my parents,” she pulled out the flash drive out of her purse, “But this causing too much of a mindfuck for me to even rationalize and since you’re still trying to tell me that she can’t control what she says…”

Caline wanted to reprimand her for her language but couldn’t bring herself to do so as Marinette aggressively plugged the drive in the office’s television, turning it on and selecting the media to play.

She watched as the clip in the television started playing.

“Watch that, and I dare you to tell me if she can’t control what she can _do_ ”

As soon as she finished her sentence, she tore her eyes off of the screen, already knowing what the footage would prove to her teacher. All while solidifying herself to execute her initial plan without hesitation.

All of sudden, the room that was just bustling with arguments fell into a deafening silence. Safe for the static noise the television was emitting due to playing a file that has no audio.

That, and the audible gasps that Marinette could hear as the footage reveals truth after truth of what has actually unfolded.

The gasps then revert into silence as the static audio stopped, telling her that the clip had ended.

Silence then turned into incoherent stammering as Marinette took out the flash drive and placed it back to her purse, heading straight for the door.

She didn’t even bother to give her “teacher” another look, because she knew that her usually comprehending teacher, had at the very least, looked at undeniable evidence of both her innocence, and the pain that she had to endure.

“M-Marinette… I-“

“Save it Miss Bustier” her sighs of pure weariness returned, her resolve to just let it all go and not look back coming into effect, “I wanted to give this school one more chance. Just one.”

She tilted her slightly to the side, to at least give some sort of sincerity to her words.

“I didn’t even expect much. A small recognition of both you and the school’s mistake would’ve probably been enough to have me reconsider…”

Her grip on the door handle tightened, as her resolve to go through with her decision.

“But even _that_ was apparently too much to ask…”

Opening the door, she took in the breath of fresh air, ready to commence the final matter that she has with the school. She barely got a step out before Caline stopped her again.

“W-Wait, Marinette. What do you mean by reconsider?”

Steadying her look towards her class, she found her surprise by the calmness she had in her voice.

“I have an announcement to make to the class. You might be inclined to join, since it’ll answer that question of yours.”

And she left it at that, not wanting to throw away any more information so that she can just make the announcement, have everyone take note, and get herself out of the damn school.

Making her way towards her class, she noticed that a certain blonde boy is leaning on the railings just outside said class. She smiled when he noticed that she was approaching and gave her a wave, clearly not yet realizing the sadness that’s practically enveloping her eyes.

Halfway through however, she found herself being intercepted once again, but this time by the principal himself, who had a somewhat confused look on his face, while both her parents are standing somberly behind him.

“Marinette, your parents have informed about what you want to be done. I just want to-“

“Yes, I’m sure Mr. Damocles” she saw that he was about to continue, “And please, don’t ask me why. I just want to get this over with, and quite honestly, I don’t want to have any other arguments over this.”

Surprised at her conviction and her straight forwardness, he could do nothing but to nod and glanced at her parents.

“Uuhh… very well then… I will handle the paperwork with your parents. Take your time in that class”

She simply gave him a nod and hurriedly went around him, scurrying over to the boy who’s been waiting for her with a smile on his face.

One that she regretfully could not reciprocate, as much as she tries to.

Adrien noticed her lethargic smile in an instant. He’d thought that with what he had told Lila to do, she’d be happy to be back in school. Yet, her expressions had told him otherwise.

“You okay?”

Marinette sighed, “A bit better now… I guess? I don’t know Adrien… I want to- Ugh! I can’t exactly- Well, I-I _don’t_ exactly know how to, um, tell you this but- Oooooh this is so hard- And I’m babbling again-“

“Hey hey… calm down now” he placed a hand on her quivering shoulders, “You don’t have to tell me right now. Just… whenever you’re ready Marinette.”

He felt the knot on his chest diminished slightly when her smile returned, yet he somehow knew that her mind is still nowhere near in the state of happiness that he had hoped her to be in. Bracing himself, he noticed she was slowly mustering the oomph to say something, finally having it build up.

“I’m-“

“Marinette!”

The voice of the principal had interrupted her, jolting her and Adrien back to their surroundings.

Looking towards the door leading to their classroom, Mr. Damocles held the door open, as if ushering her to come in.

“Miss Bustier said that you have an announcement to make?”

Exasperated, she sighed and looked back towards the awaiting Agreste, who looked more confused than he is surprised at his statement.

“Guess it’s time… why don’t we go back in there; I was going to tell you first but might as well have you all know in one go.”

He wasn’t able to answer as she’d swiftly turned around and walked towards the class, nodding towards waiting principal, who nodded back in a rather… somber manner, one that Adrien couldn’t compute the reason for.

Walking almost reluctantly into the class, he had wanted to talk with Marinette a bit more. Alone, with just the two of them that is. A few steps in, and he wasn’t at all surprised to see that most of the students, safe for very few who are sitting at their respective seats, are currently bunching around a certain brunette, who looked like she had been telling everyone about whatever it is that she had told the principal to convince the man to let Marinette back. Of course, with added dramatics, followed by a bucket of lies.

Further showing just how much the class had distanced their selves from the person that had actually tried to help each and every single one of them, without ever expecting anything in return.

He was however, glad to see that among those who had stayed in their seats, was Nino, who he found to have been looking rather inquisitively at him, all the while nodding towards the girl who had been standing right beside him.

Looking around, he had noticed that the class itself hadn’t really seemed to have noticed that their class representative had been standing in front of the class, waiting for a time for them to calm down and spare a moment to listen to her.

Anger started to flare within him, much more so when he realized that the raven-haired girl is staring at them with such a sad smile on her lips, while her eyes looked like it was gazing forlornly to the people she still referred to as “friends”.

Such distant, sad eyes… on such a strong person.

Where had he seen that before?

“CLASS, BACK TO YOUR SEATS! THERE IS AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO BE MADE.”

Adrien felt like his eardrums had been pierced as the shout echoed through the room, causing him to jump from where he was, up until where Marinette had been standing, who also looked shocked to see the usually calm Ms. Bustier raise her voice to such an extent.

Everyone promptly rushed back to their seats, with both Adrien and Marinette had their gazes following their teacher for a few moments before Adrien himself rushed back to his seat to avoid any further reprimand from the obviously upset teacher.

As soon as every settled back to their seats, Ms. Bustier inhaled loudly, seemingly trying to calm herself down, before addressing Marinette in a manner that was far cry from how it had been just seconds earlier.

“The floor is yours Marinette”

“Umm… thanks… Miss Bustier” she responded, not quite sure what to think of her soon-to-be former teacher, before taking a deep breath and looking towards her class.

Well, it used to be.

Now, all she saw are stares from people who no longer share the same welcoming energy as it usually does. All she garnered, safe from a few people, are stares of judgement, stares of people who looked like they had just scraped something unpleasant off of the bottom of their shoe.

She cleared her throat, ready to proceed with the words that she had prepared with the time that she previously had.

“So, first off I wanted to just say-“

“EHEM”

_For fuck’s sake…_

She had expected to be interrupted somewhere along her announcement, but she hadn’t expected to be within the first sentence that she was about to say.

Yet for some reason, she found herself to not at all be surprised when she realized that it had been Alya that had decided to interrupt her announcement.

She was surprised when Ms. Bustier looked like she was having none of it.

“Ms. Cesaire, if you interrupt her once again-“

“It’s okay Ms. Bustier” Marinette slightly raises her hand to further signify that it was okay, before waiting for the teacher to calm down, “Something to say, Alya?”

“Yeah, I think you should be thanking someone first” the redhead made a point to gesture towards the brunette who’s trying her best to look like an innocent fox, all slyly giving Marinette a stare that’s basically challenging her to do so.

Marinette would’ve groaned loudly; had it not been done by one Chloe Bourgeois before she had a chance to unleash hers.

Instead, she calmed herself down again and looked back at her “best friend”.

“And why in the world would I do that?”

“Uuhh… duh? Because she singlehandedly saved your ass?” the self-proclaimed reporter announcing it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “I know you’re jealous and all Marinette, but as our so-called ‘Everyday Ladybug’ you should do what Ladybug would, and it is to just honestly thank her for being helpful enough to be willing to clear your expulsion just because she saw how upset you were.”

 _What Ladybug would do is hurl her hallway across France at this point, and I should know, cause I’m freaking Ladybug_.

Is what she would’ve wanted to say, but due to obvious reasons, she couldn’t.

“Is that so…? Then how about you Alya?” she instead settled for a jab of her own, feeling particularly sarky herself, “As a self-proclaimed _reporter_ , you seem so adamant to be believing everything she had told you, even though she basically just claimed herself to be a pathological _liar_ not even what? TEN MINUTES AGO?”

Everyone’s reaction had been surprised gasps, excluding Chloe who had started chuckling, a silently smirking Nathaniel who had just decided to wake up from his nap, while Nino’s trying his damn best to not start cracking into one himself, not only at the fact that his stubborn girlfriend had just been called out to the entire class, but also at how red the blonde boy sitting next to him is currently looking like. A little further, then Nino would’ve been convinced that his best friend would be fainting any moment now.

Meanwhile, Adrien himself is miserably failing at hiding the red-hot blush that had overrun his features.

He didn’t know that snarky Marinette can be so… _attractive_.

To put it in a much more appropriate description that is.

Reactions aside, everyone turned into silence again when Alya replied with a tone full of offense, “How dare you call her-“

“You know what Alya… I’m not here to make any more conflicts,” seeing her pinch the bridge of her nose, Adrien noticed that her earlier tone of resignation had returned, this time, with a bit more resolve in it, “I’m here to tell you all that with the development in hand…”

She paused for a short while, seemingly prepping herself more than she is prepping her audience.

“I will no longer be able to be your class representative. Which will logically require for all of you to hold another election. And I can only wish that you all would be able to elect whoever’s worthy of leading you.”

“Why can’t you continue being our class rep?”

She had been surprised to see that the question had come from Nino, whom she had thought to be well off of her side. But she’s only now realized that his expressions were of genuine worry and judging by the nodding Adrien right next to him, she can tell that Nino was very well _on_ her side.

Which lightened her mood for a split second, before bringing her back down to the harsh reality.

“For… personal reasons that I’m about to disclose-“

“Puh-lease… what personal reasons?” Alya had cut back. Adrien himself would’ve gladly smack her across the face had he been prepared for what she ended up saying, “Now that you’re back, you want to use your time to make sure that poor Lila doesn’t get her hands on your Sunshine Boy over here? Come on, Dupain-Cheng, I didn’t even expect you to go as low as that!”

Laughter occurred in some parts of the class, basically proving to Marinette that the majority of the class had actually turned their back on her. Alya at this point resembled the old version of Chloe, more than Chloe could even resemble due to her recent changes.

After all that she has done…

That’s it. Marinette really didn’t want to prolong this any further.

“Quite the contrary actually… _Cesaire_ ”

Adrien had never even heard Marinette say anything with anywhere _near_ the amount of venom that she was putting into that name. Yet, he couldn’t dwell on it as Marinette continued with a much softer, yet firm voice.

“Because as of today…”

Caline Bustier had long figured out what she was about to say.

“I will be leaving College Francoise Dupont permanently.”


End file.
